Enchanted
by Lotte Rose 37
Summary: There is a part of our imagination which allows us to create any world we desire. This tale is in no way Disney, sugar coated, or home to any dancing dishes. Oh no. This is darker. This is the real story of the Beauty… and the Beast.
1. Chapter I: Eve

_A/N: I'm Lotte Rose and this is my second fan fiction. I love the story of Beauty and the Beast. I have always wanted to write my own version, one that would be darker, more eerie but beautiful, and that would create enchanting images and worlds in the reader's mind. That is my goal. Please let me know if I am achieving it. _

_Disclaimer: This is purely my imagination and I do not own any rights from any elements of movies or plotlines I may use. _

_**Enchanted**_

_**Chapter I: Eve **_

_Prune, snip, pluck._ _Prune, snip, pluck._ The more that were removed, the more seemed to climb, engulfing the headstone in their glory. The vain blooms just nodded back at her as she freed them from their daily entanglements.

Eve picked up her charcoal and once again, attempted to capture their splendor. They remained sedentary and allowed themselves to be drawn. But as suspected, the breeze picked up and nodded them into different light before their portrait was complete.

That same insolent breeze played at lock of dark hair. It danced across her brow and teased her for the unfinished drawing in her lap.

Eve remembered the sickness spread like wildfire throughout the small village. Voices rang through the night as they watched their loved ones slip in and out of fitful sleep. Eve cried at her mother's side as she lay still in the soaked sheets. The sweet lullaby was her parting words from one world into the next. Her mother's fever subsided and an empty cold spread within the body.

The following spring was host to many funerals. The ground had thawed and the open meadow, marked unsparingly with rocks and pebbles. Only one was visited more than once every few years. It was the stone cross, the etched words obstructed by the large pink roses climbing from the earth.

Only Eve could be seen at the graveyard, making sure her mother's roses were healthy and her cross weighed heavily with pebbles. But mostly, her visits were that of reflection. Tears had ceased to serve a purpose. Now there were only memories, her mama's wise sayings and wistful tales of love and adventure. Eve's favorite had always been the tale of her birth.

"The stars came out of the heavens and landed themselves in your eyes, and the black night from which they were drawn left an ebony blanket upon your head. I knew then on the eve of your birth, you shall be named 'the life in the night'…Eve."

Her mother had been the beauty of their small, Celtic village. No one doubted she would have any trouble marrying. But as it went, she gave birth alone in a small room, with only the doctor to help her along.

Eve had gathered from fractured conversations that her father had been a drifter, a peddler who had come one day and gone the next. Eve had concluded that her mother had expected him to stay, for it was very rare for travelers to enter back into the woods once they had left them.

Eve swept her gaze around the dark ring of trees that encircled their little town. There were rumors that children had been fed from the cradle of terrible things that went on in the forest, and which remained imbedded in the conscience of the residents. Tales hung like the blanket of haze always present at the tree's edge.

Perhaps that was another reason Eve was alienated from them. True, being the bastard daughter of the local siren played its part in her status, but her cottage was located away from the bustle of town and in the nearest proximity to the forest. She never dared enter it, however, it had earned her suspicions of witchcraft.

Ha! A Witch? She couldn't even brew a decent stew in fear of setting her apron on fire. Their glares held no mystery however, as Eve made her way through the muddy street, as to what their opinions were.

A woman ceased beating the dust from a rug on her threshold to take a long gaping look at her. A man with horrible teeth spit into the mud and continued to stare as he pitched a damp pile of straw.

It was near dark and rainy steadily when Eve treaded into the warm glow of her cottage. Her attempts to sketch the roses on her mother's cross now dripped steadily from the parchment, landing in a cloudy pool on the floor. Eve tosses it into the compost and set about removing her soaked garments.

The warmth of tea and filled her up and she drew her quilt to her chin as she sat perched next to the window. There was something comforting about the rain. Maybe it just denied her curiosity of entering the woods, whose leaves the rain drops pelted.

Unlike the other children of the village, Eve's mother never poisoned her with fears. Instead, she encouraged her fantasies and allowed her imagination to take flight. Eve supposed the rain reminded her of the nights she sat in her mother's embrace and listened to stories as the rain fell out the window.

_A clouded dream on an earthly night  
hangs upon the crescent moon  
A voiceless song in an ageless light  
Sings at the coming dawn  
Birds in flight are calling there  
Where the heart moves the stones  
It's there that my heart is longing  
All for the love of you_

_A/N: These lyrics are from Loreena McKennitt's song 'The Mystic's Dream'. This song will be the theme throughout the story and it will be Eve's mother's lullaby. It's a beautiful song I think you'll enjoy. _


	2. Chapter II: Rain, Rain

_A/N: Thank you BelleEve and SamoaPhoenix9! Boo…no review from Trudi yet…ah well, maybe she's just too busy being amazing…cough, review, cough, please?_

_**Chapter II: Rain, Rain**_

The rain went on for a week. Children whined to go out and play, mothers screeched at them to come inside before they caught their death, and fathers grumbled about the thick, pasty mud. So it went on until one spring morning, when a bird chirped outside her window, and Eve was greeted with a ray of gold.

The garden sparkled and for once, the trees beyond did not seem as forbearing. The haze had been chased away, and for the first time, the oppressive vibe she received when near the woods was not present.

Eve looked long at the trees' edge. A slight breeze seemed to exhale from within them. _Come…_it said. But not a leaf did stir from this supposed breeze. She blinked back several times before returning to her picking of mushrooms, made large and ripe from the rain.

However, her weighted basket did not stop her from cautiously inching towards the forest edge. She remained on her guard lest anything spring out at her from the leaves. A carpet of ivy greeted her just beyond the line of trunks. She mustered her courage and set foot within its swallowing mass.

_One step, two, three, four. _Her feet made no sound. _Why? _No branches had fallen, no twigs crunched beneath her foot. Each leaf poised itself perfectly amongst the others, without rot or blemishes. The trees draped a curtain of vines for which, after hesitation, Eve parted.

The golden rays poured jubilantly through the canopy and dappled the forest floor in their splendor. Birds of song flitted overhead and wildflowers treaded along the weaving path.

Eve breathed deep the smell of honeysuckle and morning glory, laced within the warm, sweet air. Eve was named a daughter of the night, but oh, how she marveled at the glory of day.

_Cursed? These woods are only cursed with beauty._

Her skirts folded beneath her as she nestled in the crook of a tree. She settled the basket lay in her lap and went about picking the stubs off the pebble sized mushrooms within.

A butterfly landed upon her nose giving her such a start that she shrieked merrily up to the canopy.

Silence. Her laughs had not rendered one whisper of an echo. Not a thing stirred, save for the butterfly retreating back amongst the flowers. Even pools of sunshine, which usually danced upon the earth, seemed frozen onto each petal.

Eve was suddenly afraid to breath. Moving would be fatal, for the eyes watching her had captured her in their gaze. There were eyes all around now. They were bidding to her, silently from beyond the sunlight.

She slowly stood and clutched her bundle to her chest. She took a step toward her path and anxiously darted back whence she came. Not moments later did she break through, like coming up for air, back into familiarity.

The oak door swung shut and she pressed her back to its support. She looked to her basket and noticed half its contents missing.

_They probably fell while you ran for your…for my what? My life? Or was it… my sanity?_

She emptied the mushrooms into a pot, glancing out the window to the strange stillness.

_Birds in flight are calling there  
where the heart moves the stones  
it's there that my heart is longing  
all for the love of you_


	3. Chapter III: Prey

_A/N: Please review?_

**_Chapter III: Prey_**

Eve lay awake in her cot. She supposed it was a night like this that she was born.

_A cloudless dream on an earthly night_

_Hangs upon a crescent moon…_

Her voice was the only sound in the darkness. It could not compare to that of her mother's; angelic, deep. But now her mother was a true angel, and her lullaby was the only thing that remained of her. Eve would sing it always.

_A voiceless song in an ageless light_

_Sings at the coming dawn..._

"_Burn the WITCH!" _

More voices rang out in the night.

"_Kill the Forest Witch!"_

There was clattering below.

Her heart sped to the tempo of their footsteps. What have I done?

_Mother, help me._

The ladder to her loft rattled and familiar faces stared back at her.

"She's up here!" they hollered.

Eve looked toward the small window and doubted she could make it out. The glow of torches illuminated their seething faces.

She had an idea. _Thank you, mother. _

"Stand back you loathsome, abominable mortals!" She extended her hands and grotesquely twisted her fingers in a mystical fashion.

She searched her memory for mother's words.

"Excalibre mortana per gancwa

loch nox ima rasch nocanta la

tombov hexava!"

Eve praised herself for committing "Morgan la Fey's" evil spell in mother's story to memory. The villagers backed hastily away as she leaped threateningly down the ladder. They stood petrified with their torches in the far corner of her kitchen and she slowly made her way to the back door.

Just when she thought her plan successful, one let out a cry of rage and they all swarmed toward her.

The pot of mushroom stew remained on the table, and acting on a whim, Eve snatched it and thrust it forcefully in front of her.

"Beware!"

They ceased immediately.

"One drop of this potion and you shall never again see the light of day!"

The men cast wary looks to each other. Eve's hand pressed the door behind her and groped desperately for the knob. In doing so, she lost her grip on the pot and the mushrooms and stock splashed to the floor.

Eve took advantage of their momentary distraction to make her escape. She flung open the door and not long after was followed by cries of outrage. There are moments when one has to make a decision between two equally dreadful fates: to re-enter the cursed forest, or stay and be burned at the stake?

Eve's toes dug into the ground in the direction of the ominous darkness of trees. She dared not look behind her. Instead, she ran to the only place where she knew they would not follow.

"Run! She's going back to her forest!"

Her soles felt the ivy underfoot and an immediate sense of security slowed her pace. She leaped and veered between trunks and crashed through vines and branches until the glow of torches were far and small.

"_You can hide in there for now Witch! But should you come out, we will show no mercy!"_

Eve gasped for breath and collapsed against smooth bark. The voices faded and all that was left was the moon, the darkness, and the woods.

Where were the wildflowers? Where were the birds and the butterflies that flitted happily through the leaves? The farther she ventured, the more desolate her forest prison became.

She begun to wonder if perhaps this wasn't the safest choice. It seemed that the more trees she past the less she could make sense of the this vast, cold jungle.

Leaves grew sparser and the branches' fingers twisted and gnawed at the stars. The haze hung low to the ground and swept around her calves. She felt like a gost ship being tossed upon a foggy sea.

There it was again, that feeling of countless, unseen eyes, watching her from every direction. Exhaustion was beginning to take its toll on her logic and hunger taxed her body. She was running on pure fear.

But soon enough even fear could not sustain her. Eve cast a desperate look to the heavens and the crescent moon grinned at her from above.

_Crack!_

She swallowed a gasp and spun to its direction. She wondered if they could hear her heart beating in her ears. Her legs began to quiver.

_Crack!_

The second being much closer, she took off in the opposite direction, not paying mind to the branches slashing her forearms. Each exhale expelled a small whimper from her throat and each bound became weaker than the last.

As if trying to catch her a mess of thorns grabbed at her skirts and ripped at her hair. She fought desperately to free herself and fell back on her hands. She scrambled to stand but landed in a tangle of diving roots. Her wrist twisted and cracked unnaturally. This was the end. She was going to die prey to her predator in this forest.

The last thing she saw before blackness took over was the smile of the crescent moon in the cloudless night.

_A/N: Come on, you know you want to push it. You are getting very sleepy...you want to review..._


	4. Chapter IV: Monster

_A/N: takes a deep breath Please don't kill me. _

_**Chapter IV: Monster**_

_Warmth._ It was the first sense Eve came to from the blackness; the warmth of fire.

_I'm dead. Heaven is warm._

But as she opened her eyes, heaven felt much more tangible than she would have imagined. Yes, she was still in the forest. But a thriving fire crackled steadily a few feet from her fetal position.

"Look who decided to grace us with her presence."

Eve's body immediately shot straight at the rough voice. But its owner was nowhere within the clearing in which she had awoken. She felt a sudden pain in her wrist and looked to find it bandaged neatly and supported by a twig splint. Her heart pounded with an earthshaking rhythm as she desperately squinted beyond the darkness.

"Out playing again were we?"

Eve reflexively jolted as the voice came from behind. She scrambled to face it, but once again found nothing but the midnight fog. Her voice came no louder than the pop of the flames.

"Who—where are you?" she spoke timidly to the empty clearing.

The silence that followed pummeled her ears and rattled her bones. The air was thinning. She pushed to her feet with her good hand and an immediate weakness overcame her left ankle. Balance proved easier to find than her courage.

Snatching a branch from the pile, she brandished the flame before her and advanced shakily toward the voice. A _crack_ nearby spun her in its direction. The soft glow revealed a black silhouette amongst the trees.

No more games. Eve was going to unveil him. How dare he toy with her thoughts when she was in such a state? She strode two paces into the darkness, but the silhouette only retreated just as much back. She maintained her ground when her attempts failed and gaped wearily into the black.

However, after a few moments, the dark figure shifted and the _crack _of footsteps drew near.

The first thing seen in the light of the torch was the menacing gleam of the eyes. They locked onto her face and would not let go. But one could hardly remain fixed on eyes when something less human surrounded.

Was it a man? Surely no human mother could birth this horror into the world. Skin of gray shone molted and garish in the light of fire and a clouded moon. A strong jaw and arched brow sat upon the face of tragedy. Hair of no particular color hung shaggily to great, hulking shoulders.

The torchlight exposed every inch of this towering menace and Eve's grip on it loosened, finally dropping it to the earth below. It burned for a few moments before snuffing into a pile of smoldering ash.

Eve felt herself backing, limping away until she was once again in the clearing. _He...it _appeared shortly after carrying a long stick. She braced herself for the worst but exhaled when the rod was dropped unceremoniously at her feet. She cringed as his heavy footsteps passed her.

A loud crack of thunder and a sharp flash gave way to cold droplets. Eve looked to the retreating back and almost spoke before it stopped and turned. She dared to look upon the horrible façade which, like hers, was steadily becoming soaked through.

It was the most tragic sight Eve had ever beheld. It seemed impossible, even unnatural, for such a creature to exist. But as the wet bullets pelted her crown, she could not help but escape back home, to her warm little cottage by the woods...

But she could never go back. Even this wretched wood held more promise for her survival. And now, her only hope of avoiding fatal illness brought on by the elements, was standing infront of her. Her rescuer had come in the form of the most detestable creature imagined...now, her only hope.

She must have been a pitiful sight, arms hanging helplessly at her sides, for he considered her and brusquely gestured with a clawed hand.

"Well, don't just stand there…"

The stick at her feet promised support for her weakened leg. She fetched it and secured it snuggly under her arm.

_A/N: I need YOU to review. Yes, you...just...be nice. _


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